In My Opinion (IMO) from Verve Connect has added Carphone Warehouse to the list of retail partners it works with as it targets 20 per cent of the prepaid market.
The new partnership will see the IMO Q2 smartphone in Carphone Warehouse stores. After a successful launch in 2017, where the device has been sold by Tesco and Virgin, the Q2 has sold over 100,000 device since launch.
Retailing for £34.99 on pay as you go and for £54.99 when purchased SIM free, the Q2 will be available to buy across 310 Carphone Warehouse stores and online.
Running on an Android Lollipop 5.1 platform, the Q2 comes with a four inch screen, a 5MP front and rear camera and a 1.2 GHz Quad- Core processor with 8GB storage.
Verve Connect head of sales and propositions Nigel Whitehead said the deal with Carphone Warehouse “seemed like a good fit” for IMO.
Speaking to Mobile News, Whitehead said: “Conversations with Carphone Warehouse have been going on for quite a few months.”
“They saw our progress in the market and approached us saying they would like to range our device. They have a huge retail footprint in the UK for us to get our brand out there.”
IMO is currently reckoned to be the number three brand in the UK for pre-paid market share with 12 per cent as of Q1, up four per cent from the end of 2017. With 20 per cent the target for the end of the year, Whitehead believes partnering with Carphone Warehouse will help IMO achieve this.
“Approaching Carphone Warehouse will take us closer to our target of 20 per cent of the prepaid market by the end of this year.”
“The aim for us is to be number one in this market.
“If we achieve our 20 per cent target or above in prepaid this should get us there or thereabouts. As long as we get the 20 per cent, we’ll be very happy” says Whitehead.
Following the agreement the IMO Q2 will now be available at nearly half of the UK’s mobile retail outlets, adding Carphone to Argos, Tesco and Virgin with Whitehead alluding to more retailers added in the furture.
He said: “We’re having positive ongoing discussions with a couple of other big UK partners where hopefully our products will be available later this year.”